the man who never was
by doseofdream
Summary: After their first date, they promised to meet up again, but she had never shown up. kind of Nalu fic! Modern AU. FT belongs to Mashima


Anything could happen during a bus ride.

Natsu had never thought he would bump into a cute blonde during a bus ride.

It all happened when the bus driver hit the brakes so hard that Lucy fell forward his broad chest.

When she looked up at him, their eyes locked for a moment. Flustered for staring at him for long, she glanced down on the floor. There was something adorable in the way she kept blushing and avoiding his knowing eyes, and Natsu felt his heart melt.

But it didn't last long when the bus halted in Lucy's stop. "I have to get off," she murmured and Natsu heard that. She then hurriedly walked towards the stop.

Wait, what? So was it going to be over just like that?

Natsu immediately raised his voice before she got off the bus, "My name is Natsu. I'm going to be in this stop tomorrow at noon. Will I be seeing you here?"

Hearing his voice, Lucy turned her head and smiled at him. "Yes."

"What's your name?"

"I'm Lucy," she answered with a grin, then she hurriedly got off the bus.

Natsu chuckled. "Lucy, what a pretty name."

###

The next day, at noon, Natsu went to her bus stop.

Lucy stood there, wearing a pink sweater with long blue jeans with a pair of long boots. It was winter in Magnolia and each breath she took felt like inhaling dry ice.

"I'm sorry, I hope you're not waiting for long," Natsu said apologetically, removing his black scarf and wrapping it around Lucy's neck.

"But, you'll be cold," she began to protest.

"I'm fine, Lucy," he lied. In fact, he felt like his lungs were frosted from icy air.

She smiled warmly at him, and she removed her own red scarf that had been encircling her neck and she wrapped it around his neck. "You can use mine then."

Feeling how soft the fabric was on his neck, he ran his fingers through its entire length until his fingers felt the embroidered letters that spelled the name Lucy.

"You made it on your own?"

Lucy giggled softly, "only the letters. So where are we going?"

"I know there is a café with the best coffee around here," he answered with a grin, holding her hands. For a moment, the warmth of his smile had her believing he was feeling the same wondrous attraction she felt.

###

"This is such a nice coffee," Lucy said as she took a sip of her hot coffee.

"I told you, smile Luce!"

Lucy then gave her biggest and warmest smile, and Natsu snapped her pictures.

"I hope you're not going to give my pictures to some creeps," she joked.

Natsu laughed at her joke. "No, I'm a photographer and I just love to capture beautiful moments."

Hearing his answer, her cheeks tinged a flustered red. "Come on Luce, let's take some pictures together," he said, setting the timer in his DSLR camera.

"Quick, quick, quick!"

Natsu hurriedly got up, sat next to Lucy, and they both smiled together at the front camera.

##

"That was fun, thank you so much, Lucy, do you want to meet up again in this café? The same time?"

Lucy nodded, "yes, I also have tons of fun. Let's do it again tomorrow!"

He then smiled warmly at her. "Oh your bus is here," he said, sounding disappointed that their meeting had to end.

"Yeah," she also sounded disappointed. She ran toward the bus stop, then paused to turn her head to Natsu and gave him a big smile, "See you tomorrow Natsu!"

Natsu waved his hand, "Bye Luce."

After she left, he just realized that he still had her red scarf, and she still had his black scarf.

"That's ok, we're going to meet again tomorrow," he said to himself.

But Natsu was wrong, she had never shown up in the café.

##

It had been two months since his first and last date with Lucy. He was heartbroken and disappointed that Lucy had never shown up since their date. She looked like she really had great time with him, but was she just faking it?

He didn't know, but all he wanted to do was to forget her and moved on with his life.

He went to a peaceful, quiet lake and began snapping pictures of the goose.

He paused and put down his camera when he saw Lucy was there sitting at one of the little tables at the edge of the lake.

"Lucy?" He called out her name. She turned her head and she looked surprise and _shock_ to see him there. "Natsu?"

But she immediately got up from her seat and hurriedly walked away from him, as if she was avoiding him.

"Wait, Luce!" Natsu fastened his steps to reach her and held her wrist. She was gone before, and he would not let her slip away again. She tried to shake him off, but his grip was too strong. What game was this woman playing? He thought to himself.

"What happened? Why did you never show up in the café?" He asked, trying to control his tone.

Lucy yelled, "What are you talking about? You were the one who never showed up in the bus stop!"

Natsu raised his brow and let go of her wrist after they both glared at each other for a few seconds. He thought she was just trying to find an excuse, but seeing the truth in her eyes, he realized that she was neither acting nor lying. "What do you mean?" He asked carefully.

"You yourself said it, to meet you at noon in the bus stop. I was there, waiting for hours until I got pneumonia and you never showed up! How dare you lie to me!"

Her tone was hard and angry, full of hurt, like Natsu had been the one who betrayed her.

"That's not true. We met up and we went to the café. See this?" He swiped his old pictures from his camera to show her the pictures of them being together in the café two months ago, but there was none of it.

His eyes widened, and he groaned in disbelief and horror. "What, it's not possible, we have our pictures here."

He had never deleted her pictures. Never ever. So how did those disappear from his camera?

"Never mind. I'm not going to waste my time anymore," she said, walking away from him.

"Wait, give me one more chance. I'm so confused! I don't know what's going on, please!" He kneeled before her, touching her wrist.

Sensing that he was being honest and sincere, and how attentive he was, begging for her forgiveness, Lucy had decided to give him a chance. "Natsu, give me your phone number and I'll decide if I should call you or not."

###

At home, Natsu was anxiously waiting for Lucy's phone call. He kept staring at his cell for hours. He really didn't want to miss her call.

His cell finally rang when he began to do the laundry. He picked it up; hoping it was Lucy's number. "Hello."

"Natsu? This is Lucy."

"Luce, thank you for calling me—" Natsu couldn't manage to continue his words when he saw a red scarf, embroidered letters that spelled the name Lucy. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"Lu-Lucy," he began to stutter.

"Natsu, are you alright? Where are you?" Lucy asked, sounding worried over the phone.

His head spun and his hands trembled. He thought she was telling the truth that they had never met; maybe it was just his imagination. However, he felt it was so real that he met and talked to her in that café and had their pictures taken together, but then where were the pictures? Could the pictures just another part of his imagination? He was so horrified of himself for no longer knowing which one was real and which one was not.

He dropped to his knees, and took deep breath. He eventually answered her, "I don't know where I am."

END 


End file.
